The Return of The Master (Gallifrey-Trilogy)
by sevenofmine
Summary: Last part of my Gallifrey Trilogy. Summary of previous stories inside. The Doctor meets Sherlock but while travelling with him, Watson gets kidnapped by a rival Time Lady who plans to resurrect The Master and fuse both The Master's and The Doctor's consciousness' into one. What is a better way to get hold of The Doctor than to abduct his companion's best friend?
1. Arcadia

**This is the third and final part of my 'Gallifrey-trilogy' story. I would recommend you to read the previous two parts "The Rise of Gallifrey" and "The Death of River Song" but if you don't want to, or can't remember anymore, here a quick summary of what happened before:**

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><p><span>Previously:<span>

_The Rise of Gallifrey_

During the darkest hours of the Time War, the Timelords did not back away from the most dangerous weapons anymore. Scientists were dedicated to explore the world of genetic engineering and combined the power of the heart of the TARDIS with a Timelord-being. With the help of The Master's DNA and the The Rani's knowledge of chemistry, The Creator could create two genetically enhanced Time Lady twins, called The Soldier and The Warrior.

The Time War proceeded and the Timelords recognised what monsters they created. Their new soldiers began to slaughter the enemy fleets and did not even care if Timelords had to be sacrificed for their decisions. The High Council of the Timelords called back the two soldiers and brought them to court where they should be punished for their war crimes.

The soldiers did not recognise their guilt as they had been created especially for war and the court decided that their punishment shall be eternal existence on the planet Earth where they would exist multiple times in time and space and be reborn over and over again without remembering who they actually were...

Theresa Riddle was a young-recruited agent by the MI6 and on a long-time undercover mission as a criminal in San Francisco when she stumbled into an adventure with The Doctor. While travelling with him, she suddenly recognised his golden watch and opened her own one - and regained her memory: Theresa found out that her real name was The Soldier and that her regained power should bring back Gallifrey from the Time War.

All parallel consciousnesses of Theresa and her sister(s) Valentina were activated, scattered among time and space. Together with The Doctor and River, Theresa travelled back to the Time War and they created a paradox big enough to be resolved by itself. When time was rewritten, only the two sisters and the Timelord couple could remember what happened.

Theresa lived in San Francisco with her girlfriend Katie who she told her true identity. Valentina of San Francisco began to travel through time and space on her own, while her sister decided to accompany The Doctor for a while.

In the meanwhile, only few of the parallel-living incarnations of Theresa and Valentina remember who they are, among them Lieutenant Commander Riddle of the USS Enterprise in the 24th century. As all parallel Theresa's are telepathically linked, they can share thoughts, but do not necessarily have to.

Although Theresa from the Enterprise lives in the SF-Theresa's future, their times are parallel to each other.

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><p><em>The Death of River Song<em>

While Theresa was travelling with The Doctor (11, hence his 13th incarnation), she recognised the pain he was going through when loosing his friend over and over again. She decided to help at least a bit and rescue his wife, the Time Lady he loves most . As a nearly omniscient being (half Timelord, half TARDIS-alike), she regenerated into River's form and replaced her during her last and The Doctor's first adventure, and died instead of him in the library. Because of Theresa's powerful abilities, she only regenerated every 13th death, while the other times, she simply wakes up like Captain Jack Harkness, who had also come in touch with too much TARDIS energy.

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><p><strong>This story now takes place after the previous ones - seen from The Doctor's timeline. Hence, it is the 12th Doctor (14th incarnation) we meet here, after Clara (finally) left. Sherlock and Watson are post-Series 3. This story also explains The Master's return in Series 8, hence when 'The Master' is first seen, he has already been the 6th incarnation (and been blonde).<br>**

**The Rani, probably not known to most of the readers, is a renegade Timelord and a chemist, having being expelled from Gallifrey after some unethical experiments. She is first seen in The Mark of the Rani, a Season 22 episode which is - in my opinion - the best serial of Season 22. The Master has always been her greatest admirer and - I assume - he is a bit in love with her, though blackmailing her in the mentioned episode to cooperation against The Doctor. The Rani, however, does not want to work with The Master and sees his re-occuring arguments with The Doctor as childish. Although she appears in one other, later serial, The Rani seen here has only experienced the Season 22 serial, and hence has met The Doctor only once (on screen) as an opponnent, while he encountered her twice before (plus the charity special episode). You don't need to know the Season 22 serial in order to understand this story.**

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><p>Chapter 0<p>

"Has she been found yet?", the General of Gallifrey asked

"No, it seems she disappeared the same day that we asked her for help...It was obvious that she would betray us. Why did the High Council agree to Rassilon's proposition?" Androgar, his most loyal assistant answered.

"Rassilon should not be in power anyway. He's regenerated several times, usually reign is only allowed for one regeneration."

"But times have changed. Tell me", he said and both men stopped walking. "Do you think she used the crack through space and time to flee this pocket universe and our planet?"

"She recognised the chance and took it. We should have never allowed her to leave prison, even to help us gaining enough power to open the crack in the first place."

"But it was the only chance to save the Doctor and hence save ourselves", the younger man answered.

"And now she's out there. And prior to her escape, she broke into the vault."

"This is just a rumor."

"It has been confirmed half an hour ago. She stole The Master's consciousness that we had kept extracted from his previous unstable body."

"Are you telling me she not only escaped our planet and universe, but now she is out there with The Master's consciousness as well?"

"Whatever she is planning, I hope the only Timelord left out there may help us."

**Please give me a short review.**


	2. 221B

**The next chapter of the last part of my Gallifrey-trilogy.**

Chapter 1

"Doctor, you've changed!" Katie noticed when Theresa and the Doctor picked her up in the flat in San Francisco.

"Yes, I'm looking younger than ever," the Doctor answered.

"You've hidden all the mirrors in the TARDIS, haven't you?" Katie asked her girlfriend. Theresa slightly smiled and then hugged Katie. "I missed you", the Time Lady said.

"How long have you been travelling now? It's just been two days for me."

"Oh, not *that* long", Theresa answered and did not mentioned that it had been fifty years since she last time saw the woman she loved. A lot has happened since then. The fall of Trenzalore, the regeneration, Danny's death, Missy, Alien - Inception-DS9 (Extreme Measurements) - Santa Claus, the loss of Clara,...

"There was a Cyberman invasion a day ago in London, was that you?"

"Oh, just the Master", the Doctor said.

"The Master?" Katie asked, well aware that he was Theresa's brother.

"Regenerated into female form, yeah."

"Female form?"

"Don't get any wrong thoughts," Theresa teased her.

"So, where are we going?" Katie wanted to know and followed the Timelords to the consoles of the TARDIS.

"Theresa persuaded me to visit a friend of hers in London. She said we had a lot in common."

"You convinced him to meet Sherlock?" Katie was surprised. She and Theresa had met Sherlock during an MI6 investigation half a year ago – in her timestream. She had no idea how much time had passed, but it seemed that Theresa hadn't seen her for a while, judging from the way she looked at her.

"How do you know she meant Sherlock?" The Doctor asked.

"Well, lucky guess," she answered and smiled at Theresa who started to giggle.

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><p>"Oh Sherlock, perhaps you should have accepted the case of this 3W...whatever," Mrs Hudson said when she brought used tea cups into the kitchen.<p>

"It's a funeral parlour – and I'll occupy with this early enough for you," Sherlock muttered and Watson, who was just reading the news paper looked up, but decided not to comment.

"And now those metal men all around England. You could have been part of it," Mrs Hudson nagged when she got back into the living room and saw Sherlock uselessly lying on the couch and holding a solved Rubic's cube in his hand – one with 7 times 7 colours.

She just wanted to add something when it became all windy in the tiny apartment of which the windows were closed and a loud noise was covering her screams when something huge and blue appeared in the mid of them.

"But...but...that's an old police box! From the 1950s!" Mrs Hudson exclaimed.

"You surely do remember them first hand, don't you?" Sherlock asked and jumped up from the couch.

"But what's it doing here?"

"Er...a friend wanted to say hello and bring someone with," Watson explained and also stood up.

The doors opened and a grey-haired man stepped out. He turned around and then walked to Sherlock. First of all, he had a look who was taller and compared Sherlock's confused facial expression to Watson's.

"You sure this is the clever one?" he then asked Theresa and Katie who went out of the tardis, and pointed to Sherlock.

"Both are clever, but he's the antisocial genius who dislikes the size of human brains", Theresa said and nodded towards Sherlock. Watson nodded at her, feeling flattered for the compliment.

"So you're the Doctor then?" Sherlock asked and shook hands with the Doctor. "You said he appeared younger."

"New regeneration," Katie explained.

"So Doctor who?" asked Watson.

"Ah, that's the question. That's *the* question," the Doctor said obviously amused.

"Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" Mrs Hudson asked loudly while Sherlock stepped right next to the Doctor and continued comparing their heights.

"Hello, Mrs. Hudson. I'm the Doctor. I'm a friend of Theresa and Katie. I just popped by to say hello: Hello," he greeted her and also shook hands. She was too puzzled to answer.

"So that's your TARDIS, Doctor? Bigger on the inside?" asked Watson and went around the blue police box.

"Not bigger on the inside," Sherlock lectured him. "It's just a transdimensional shift, folding space – and time – into an appropriate space and shift it into different dimensions so that the expansion is big enough."

"Ah, yeah, I understand," Watson smiled. "Bigger on the inside."

"Step inside and find out for yourself," The Doctor said and added towards Sherlock, "and don't touch anything."

"While Katie and The Doctor tried to explain the basics of space time travelling to surprised Watson and about-to-faint-Sherlock, Theresa comforted Mrs Hudson to sit down on the couch and brought her a glass of water and biscuits from the kitchen.

"So time travelling is real?" she asked, having experienced already a lot with her two boys, but never something like that.

"Yes, it is."

"But this will be too much for Sherlock. He's thinking all rational and such..."

"It can all be scientifically explained, Mrs Hudson," she answered and smiled.

"But if the Doctor is an alien – from outer space and looking into past and future, choosing to visit all of them – why does he dress up like that?"

"Oh, you should have seen some past regenerations..."

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><p>"But how do you keep the Eye of Harmony both in the TARDIS as a power source as well as on Gallifrey as its power source? Especially now that Gallifrey is lost in a pocket universe?"<p>

"That's not the question," the Doctor said.

"But what's then the question?" Sherlock seemed confused.

"Will you travel with me? Both of you?"

"Oh, no, I can't," Watson immediately said.

"Oh, just one trip, please. I'm asking you from one doctor to another. I haven't travelled with a Doctor for quite a while."

"I've got a pregnant wife and a job..."

"And I've got a _time_ machine..."

"Which you can hardly steer correctly," Watson answered with a short smile. Of course, his pregnant wife was not the reason for not travelling. Neither was Sherlock.

"Theresa can!"

"But thanks, Doctor," he stepped backwards into the direction of the door. "I don't think that all of time and space would be good for me. But promise me one thing." He raised his finger, "bring Sherlock back in one piece and latest by midnight tonight." He looked very serious and then shut the TARDIS doors behind him. He unintentionally had to grin when leaving the time-space-ship.

"You're not coming with us?" Theresa asked.

"No, I think the mysteries of London are enough for me right now," he said and was glad that Mrs Hudson looked well better than fifteen minutes ago.

"Perhaps the next time," Theresa said and hugged Watson good-bye.

"I told him to be back by midnight. Whenever this might be for the four of you," he said and Theresa nodded. Ten seconds later, the TARDIS, together with two Timelords and two humans disappeared into nothing.

"Am I awake, John?" Mrs Hudson disturbed Watson while he was already worrying.

"Yes, Mrs Hudson, no Santa to be seen, I'm afraid you are."

"Good, because this Doctor-man was really handsome and it would be a shame if I was just dreaming."

**Please review.**


	3. Miasimia Goria

**Have you seen my other Doctor Who stories/ crossovers yet? :)**

**I do not own anything. The Rani was first mentioned in the 6th Doctor's episode The Mark of the Rani and is an evil Timelord. Though The Master proposes a cooperation, she does not want anything to do with him at first. However, as they do cooperate (more or less...^^), The Doctor faced two renegade Timelords in this double episode of Season 22.**

Chapter 2

When she landed her TARDIS carefully on the pavement of Baker Street, the sun was already setting. She stepped out of the modern red telephone box which fitted perfectly into the environment. However, her clothing did not. Neither was she dressed the Gallifreyan way, but rather like on the planet Miasimia Goria which she had successfully subdued and which was now under her reign. She looked around but luckily she hadn't aroused suspicion – luckily for Terrans.

She had seen the Doctor landing and leaving less than a few Earth hours ago and he had even picked up a new companion. She then spent several days observing this companion called Sherlock Holmes in his daily life of the past five years, hopping on and off of his time stream. And she had found out that he usually was accompanied by his best friend – or more – John Watson. This perfectly fitted her plan.

She had needed a human anyway, as human were surprisingly compatible with Timelord body chemistry, despite the obvious anatomic differences. No wonder the Doctor loved coming here, even transformed himself into a human for a while – and even had a regeneration being half-human once.

The woman walked towards Baker Street 221B and gently knocked. It was their housekeeper, Mrs Hudson who opened and immediately responded, "Mr Holmes is currently not here. Do you have an appointment?"

"Of course I do, but with Dr Watson," she responded with a smile.

"Well...yes," the old woman said and eyeballed the stranger. "Mr Watson moved out several years ago, but he is indeed upstairs right now."

The Time Lady smiled and was granted passage to the upper floor, followed by Mrs Hudson.

"Yoohoo, John. You've got a visitor," Mrs Hudson already called for her lodger.

John was sitting at Sherlock's desk, obviously trying to guess his best friend's password. He stood up when seeing Mrs Hudson but his eyes showed sheer disbelief when spotting the woman behind her.

"Do you know each other well?" Mrs Hudson wanted to know curiously.

"No, not yet," the woman in the funny blouse and very tight leather trousers said.

"N-no," Watson stuttered and shyly smiled.

"Well, then I will leave the two of you alone. Have you called your wife, by the way, that you are coming home late?"

"Yes, I did," John smiled and waited until Mrs Hudson left the floor. He just wanted to say something, but the woman spoke first, "you must be the very famous John Hamish Watson, a Doctor, aren't you?"

"Y-yes, but medical though. So in case you're searching any other Doctor, he isn't here."

"Oh, I'm not looking for The Doctor, I am here because of you," she smiled. "Don't you want to know who I am?"

"Well, if you're here for *me*, I assume you're going to tell me anyway," Watson said confidently and tried to hide his unsecurity.

"My name is The Rani!"

He shrugged.

She giggled. "Of course, you haven't heard from me yet. But I assume you have heard of the Master?"

"Well, his...I mean her actions were hard to be missed. After the latest Cybermen invasion..."

For the blink of an eye, he noticed that she appeared confused. Was it too early in her time stream? And what did she have to do with the Master? "So, what about him? Is he working for you? Is he here, on Earth?" he asked.

"Oh, his consciousness is," she answered with a big smile and walked towards him. "I just need a compatible human to transform into a Timelord and implant his consciousness."

"I'm sorry?" he asked, not quite understanding what she wanted from him.

"All in good time," she said and when Watson just thought about a pre-emptive attack, a white powder engulfed around him and coughing his body hit the floor. It was only a matter of seconds that he was completely unconscious.

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><p>Two minutes after midnight, the TARDIS squealed and creaked its way into the living room of 221B Bakerstreet.<p>

"John, I'm home. And it's just been one week, five days and three minutes that we last time saw each other," Sherlock announced when he stepped out, his head still trying to solve the Cochrane equation necessary to fold time-space in an appropriate way to stabilize the time vortex through which a massive space ship like the TARDIS could travel.

"John?" Katie asked and had a look into the kitchen and both Sherlock's and the empty bedroom.

"MRS HUDSON?" Sherlock shouted and less than four seconds later they heard footsteps appearing on the stairs.

"What is it, Sherlock?" she complained.

"Have you seen John, Mrs Hudson?" Theresa asked.

"No, not since this woman visited him. She said she wanted to see him, but she didn't say anything else..."

"A woman?" The Doctor looked alarmed. "Long, brown coat, pretending to be an evil Ms Poppins, with long brown hair in a swept-up hairdo and a white blouse?"

"No, not at all. She had light brown hair and weird clothes. Too tight the jeans for my taste."

"Did she say something?" Katie wanted to know.

"Just that she wanted to see John but didn't know him yet. Why? What the hell is happening and where are the two of them. I haven't heard them leaving and the staircase is quite noisy."

"Does this sound like a familiar Timelord?" Sherlock asked.

"The Timelords are all banned on Gallifrey in their pocket universe. There is no possibility that someone could have escaped," Theresa said.

"The Master did," The Doctor reminded her.

"But he's The Master. I mean, if someone escapes, it had to be him...her," Katie answered.

"She wasn't the only renegade of the Timelord race though..." Theresa mentioned.

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" The Doctor asked.

"And you are thinking right," a voice from the hallway said. The Rani stepped into the light of the living room.

"That's her!" Mrs Hudson recognized.

"That's who?" Sherlock wondered loudly. His brain capacity for today was nearly reached.

"The Rani," the Doctor exclaimed.

"Exactly," she said.

"Rani who?" Sherlock asked.

"Not funny," The Doctor answered, still in sheer disbelief.

"Oh, didn't you think that I would return one day?"

"Well, I've had quite a lot of unexpected returns lately."

"After you messed around with my TARDIS and the T-Rex baby grew up in very fast motion? Do you remember when we met on Earth and you crossed my precious experiments with the humans?"

"Yeah, but somehow this wasn't the last time we met..." The Doctor mumbled.

"I'm sorry?" she asked.

"Ah, nothing...wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, you know?"

"What?" Sherlock said.

"Why are you here?" Theresa asked, also realizing that The Rani was from a different point in The Doctor's timeline – before the events of their second meeting, but after she had been caught by the Timelords – once again.

"Oh, that's quite easy. But shouldn't we discuss that on Miasimia Goria?"

"Mia...what?" Katie asked.

"Gosh, Doctor, why are you keeping so many humans around you?" she asked.

"Their tiny brains are fun to meddle with," he said shrugging.

"Doctor, you and your new companion will accompany me to where I keep your little friend, the other Doctor. I have planned a nice experiment with him and you, Doctor, and your human super-genius here is plan B in case that his love-doctor does not survive."

"And if I say no? I mean, you need Watson anyway, so you shouldn't kill him."

"I could pick any human I like, Doctor. But I also need you. And I don't think your friends here would agree if you let little John die that easily."

"What do you need me for?" The Doctor asked confused.

The Rani just smiled. "Follow me to my TARDIS!"

"No," Sherlock said.

The Rani's grin got brighter. "Which of your human companions shall I kill first?" With a handy device which was previously clipped to her big belt, she pointed towards the two blondes and Mrs Hudson.

"Kill her and get it over with," The Doctor pointed at Theresa.

"Said and done," The Rani answered and without blinking, she activated her weapon which shot a phase ray towards Theresa who fell backwards. "How many more do you want to let die?"

Katie and Mrs Hudson immediately kneeled down besides Theresa. "She's dead!" Mrs Hudson shrieked after feeling her pulse.

"Now, Doctor, follow me!" The Rani prompted. Without another word Sherlock and The Doctor, pretending to be very shocked, went in front of The Rani downwards the staircase and into her disguised TARDIS.

Only when her time-ship was already gone for over a minute, Theresa gasped for breath and was back amongst the living. "What did I miss?" she asked and looked at Mrs Hudson who appeared to be close to a heart attack.

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><p>When The Doctor regained consciousness, he and Sherlock found themselves chained with handcuffs to a wall of a room which appeared to be a laboratory. There were two big tables, on one of them Sherlock's companion chained and evidently unconscious. Only seconds later, Sherlock awoke as well.<p>

"Where are we?" he asked and looked around. "John!" he muttered when spotting his friend.

"Probably in a lab on Miasimia Goria, a planet under The Rani's reign."

"As so many times, Doctor, you are correct," she said when entering the room.

"Whatever you are planning, forget it!"

"Oh, Doctor. You don't even know what I am planning. And if you don't know, you can't foil my plans, can you?"

"Oh come on, what are we supposed to do? Bite ourselves free from those transparent aluminium chains?" Sherlock teased her.

"You got a clever companion there, Doctor," The Rani told the fellow Timelord. "But nothing will save you this time. Do you know what this is?" She held up a small Erlenmeyer flask with a plug containing a dark-grey liquid.

"I have the feeling you are going to tell me anyway...just don't bore me to death," The Doctor answered.

She smiled. "This is The Master's consciousness. After he returned to Gallifrey when you prevented the Timelords from returning to the primary universe, his body's energy was so used up that his 'self' was to be stored out of his body. As I am the leading chemist on Gallifrey – though imprisoned – I was to help him."

"And you planned your own escape and took The Master – or rather this liquid thing there – with you?" Sherlock concluded.

"But why?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, what does a woman like me want?"

"Power. Infinite power. Like The Master...do you also plan to become a bubbly liquid?"

"I want power of not only one planet, but of a whole system. But let's start with something small – like Earth. And what would I need to rule Earth? A ruler! I mean, I can impossibly be ruling several planets at once, so I need someone to obey me completely and who is straightforward enough to accomplish such a ruthless goal."

"You want to restore The Master. And he will obey you completely as he admires you. That's what you need a body for! But you will never be able to completely trust him!" The Doctor warned her.

"Oh, you're not seeing the point. This is my plan, yes. But don't you see how you play a role as well?"

The Doctor remained silent. But Sherlock already got an idea, "you want to combine The Master's consciousness and The Doctor's, as well as his genetic profile. They're always crossing each others' way, but working together, they would make an unstoppable team."

"Oh, how clever your little human brain tries to be!"

"But he's human! He's not compatible with The Master!" the Doctor shouted in a futile attempt to save John Watson's life.

"You, Doctor, should be the first to have noticed how similar humans and Timelords are, though the genetic differences are a nightmare. You were half-human once, why shouldn't it work again. Also, I will transfer your DNA to his and he will be a human-Doctor-Master hybrid. Isn't this a perfect plan?" The Rani triumphed.

"Diabolical," The Doctor murmured.

"Well, definitely sounds like her," Sherlock added sarcastically.

**Please review.**


	4. The Rescue

Chapter 3

"What are you going to do?" Mrs Hudson asked in a high-pitched voice when Katie helped Theresa to stand up.

"Going after them. A TARDIS can locate another TARDIS and currently there aren't so many around in this universe," Theresa explained and tried to open the police box doors but they were locked.

"He locked you out," Katie mumbled.

Theresa gave her half-heartedly a harsh glance and then signalled her to stand upon her hand and search for the key above the TARDIS door. "He leaves a second key somewhere above the 'P'," she explained. **[Reference: The Movie]**

"Got it," Katie answered and jumped onto the floor again.

"You're heavier than I remember," Theresa teased her.

"And I thought you were an all-so-powerful Timelord with double human strength?" **[c.f. The Movie]**

"Triple," Theresa said when Katie unlocked the doors. Mrs Hudson made a move forward but Theresa got in her way, "listen, I know you want to come with us but The Rani is ruthless. You saw what she is capable of and you are much safer here."

"Great, I'll stick around and make more tea," the not-housekeeper answered but let the two women disappear with the Doctor's police box.

"The Doctor would definitely dislike the idea of the two of us alone in his TARDIS," Theresa smiled when searching The Rani's TARDIS' signal. "Think of all we could do..."

"Have you found the Rani yet?"

"Yes, I locked on to her TARDIS' coordinates and we should be on Miasimia Goria within a few seconds," the Timelord answered and then landed the timemachine silently without the famous creaking-and-squeezing noise.

"Do you have a plan?" Katie asked when Theresa was already on the way to the doors.

"Go there, cross The Rani's plan and rescue the Doctor."

"What about something that won't get everyone killed?" Katie said but hurried after her.

"You worry that I could die. How sweet!" Theresa teased her and gave her a quick kiss. "The Rani will most probably be in her laboratory. She's a chemist and whatever plan she has, it involves science. So we could create a power outage in the building and whatever she is doing to the Doctor and John will be halted."

"You talk as if you've been to this planet before," Katie said and grabbed Theresa's hand before she could open the TARDIS door.

"I've been here in the beginning of the Time War. The Creator, my father who altered my genetics to make me the perfect Soldier, had discovered a malfunction within my 27th chromosome pair and needed the scientific advice of The Rani to re-methylate a certain base-pair sequence that encoded my ability to regenerate an infinite number of times."

"A simple 'yes, I've been here before' would have done it."

Together the two women left the TARDIS and found herself indeed in some sort of laboratory.

"Do you hear that?" Theresa asked.

"Your ears are so much better than mine...are those screams?"

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><p>Sherlock had always been able to protect his friends. He had always tricked his enemies. He had always been one step ahead. Therefore it was even harder for him to see his friends suffer while he couldn't do anything to stop this torture. The Doctor and John lay on two metal tables, connected by a lot of tubes and wires, random electroshocks lightening the cables and blood flowing through some of the tubes and dripping into several Erlenmeyer flasks which The Rani was watching carefully. As soon as The Doctor's blood had tripped into a previously with some kind of yellow liquid filled flask, a chemical reaction that Sherlock had never seen before, had started to take place and green smoke was crawling into the air. The two testing subjects were screaming under immense pain and Sherlock was shouting as well, though yelling at the evil Time Lady to stop her sick experiment.<p>

But she only laughed and looked at the instruments and checked if the equipment was properly adjusted at The Doctor's head. Another blue flash was leaving The Doctor's metal ring which was arranged around his head and working its way towards John's head. But on mid-way it glowed in a red colour and suddenly this glowing wire was the only thing still lightening the room. Every other light source had gone out and so was now the wire which broke into two parts. It was dark and Sherlock couldn't see a thing before the emergency lightening went on. Neither John nor the Doctor screamed anymore but so did The Rani. She ran to something in the wall which seemed to be a fuse box.

"Power outage – as it would seem," Sherlock said with a smile.

"No, damn it!" The Rani shouted. "The emergency power does not include the laboratory equipment, just the most important lights."

"Such a shame," Theresa said and entered the lab. "I would have really liked the outcome of your experiment."

Katie rushed by and towards John and The Doctor moaning on their metal beds. She freed them while Theresa continued to corner The Rani at the wall. "What was your plan anyway?" she asked.

The Rani did not answer and did not seem to try an escape. She had no weapons and was quite outnumbered.

"She tried to fuse The Doctor's and The Master's mind into John's body to create the perfect soldier to obey her," Sherlock explained while he was freed from his chains by Katie.

"Oh, you would never have succeeded. *I* am the perfect Soldier, you know..." Theresa, also known as The Soldier among her fellow Timelords, answered with a smile.

"You are The Soldier! You were trialled on the last day of the time war," The Rani recognised. "You were found guilty and banned from Gallifrey."

"And so were you. And here we are, two exiled renegades, universes away from our homeplanet."

"Theresa, John isn't stabilising," Katie distracted her girlfriend from chatting with a former friend.

The female Timelord turned to John whose eyes started flickering. "The Master's mind has already taken possession of his body," The Doctor explained while he was inspecting John. "We need to extract The Master from him."

"I can do a mind-meld. The Master is my brother, I am much more able to cope with his consciousness," Theresa explained and before The Doctor could intervene and warn that even she wouldn't be able to tackle to evil minds, she started to mind-meld with Watson. After not more than five seconds, they both sank to the ground, unconscious.

"She's gotten his consciousness alright, but the transformation was already too far progressed," The Doctor muttered and tried to feel Watson's pulse. "I'm sorry..."

"No!" Sherlock shouted and pushed the Doctor away.

The Timelord stepped back and cast a glance at Katie. He slowly shook his head and saw her eyes already wetting. He looked away. He couldn't stand humans crying. It made him feel responsible, weak and helpless. "Where's The Rani?" he asked and turned around. She was nowhere to be seen.

"She must have escaped," Katie said and wiped a tear from her cheek. She had loved John like a brother, although she hadn't had much time to get him to know. How were they supposed to tell his pregnant wife what had happened? Tell her that an evil alien tried to use John's body for an alien soul-melting process to create an obeying soldier in order to subdue the world?

* * *

><p>The first thing Theresa heard when gaining consciousness again was the whimpering of Sherlock Holmes and that was the moment when she knew that something terrible must have happened. She looked aside and saw John's immobile body lying in Sherlock's arms.<p>

"She hasn't used her TARDIS. It's still here," The Doctor said and pointed to The Rani's undisguised TARDIS. That moment, the earth started trembling.

"An earthquake?" Katie asked.

"No, it seems The Rani has weakened the building's infrastructure on her way out," The Doctor explained.

"You mean self-destruct. Why can't you Timelords never say what you mean?!" she answered.

"We need to get out. Quick!" The Doctor said and grabbed Sherlock under his arms and pulled him up. "Where have you parked the TARDIS?" he shouted when the first parts of the ceiling rained down on them.

"Two floors down at the electricity centre," Katie explained and helped the weakened Theresa to stand up. "Can you walk?" she asked her.

Theresa slowly nodded. "The drums..." she muttered and Katie put her arm around hers to support her walk.

"John," Sherlock moaned and tried to reach his body.

"We have to leave him here!" The Doctor said and pulled Sherlock towards the exit. Through the collapsing corridors the two humans and two Timelords hurried until they reached the blue police box in the cellar of the building.

"In there, now!" The Doctor shouted and pulled the wibbley lever in order to dematerialise the TARDIS as quickly as possible and return to the last position.

The TARDIS' braking sound signalled their landing. The four of them left the TARDIS and Katie helped Theresa to lie down on the couch while Sherlock dropped onto the armchair and closed his eyes. Not even a single muscle in his face twitched.

Mrs Hudson had heard the materialisation and came up the stairs. She wanted to ask but when she looked into the sad faces of the time travellers, she remained silent.

"I'm sorry," The Doctor muttered. "I'm so, so sorry..."

"Shut up," Sherlock complained. Everyone looked at him, but he didn't look up.

An awkward minute of silence followed. Then The Doctor dared to speak again, "we can't leave The Master's consciousness in her mind." He pointed at Theresa. "It would drive her crazy...more than she already is."

"But how can we lock up a consciousness?" Katie asked and sat down on the couch next to Theresa. She gently stroked the platinum blonde hair of the Timelord who didn't seem to be mentally awake.

"The same way the Timelords did," The Doctor said. "With a certain potion they sucked the Master's mind into his blood and filled that into a small flask. It is contained until the flask is opened. The Rani was involved with this process because she is the best chemist the Timelord race has ever produced."

"But we don't have the Rani here. And something fast needs to be done," Katie said while Theresa continued muttering something about Sea Devils, a prison break and Rassilon's tomb.

"I'm a chemist," Sherlock suddenly said and finally looked up.


	5. Who's TARDIS?

Chapter 4

The earth trembled and the citizens of Miasimia Goria's capital had no idea what was happening. Inside the centre of the earth quake, the laboratory building which stood upon the power station of the largest city began collapsing, rubble and debris of walls and ceilings began to rain down on the last few Chemists and Biologists who tried to escape the deadly ruins. Most of the test subjects had no chance to run and neither did Watson who lifelessly lay in The Rani's main lab. The narcotics the Rani had given him delayed the process, but right now, blue flashes were twitching all over his body. **[c.f. The Movie]**

Golden dust left his mouth and all of sudden, his eyes open. He gasped for air and sat up. He touched his face, still the unshaven, Hobbit-like face he remembered from his past incarnation. Why hasn't he changed? Due to the heavy narcotics and the melting process with a fellow Timelord he probably didn't have enough power to change his appearance after he regenerated. What has happened? Where was he? And more important, who was he?

His thought process was interrupted by a huge rock falling down right in front of him. He stood up immediately, stumbled, and fell down again. The second time he caught better hold and turned 360 degrees in order to see his surroundings. _Damn it, I'm getting old,_ he thought. _My sixth incarnation already! _Then he suddenly saw something which made him regain hope. The Rani's TARDIS! She must have left it here when she disappeared via transporter. While the room more and more collapsed around him, he made his way towards the TARDIS and opened the door. Nobody was inside. He ran towards the main controls and checked. Everything was fully operational. _Sherlock,_ he muttered, _you're not the only one able to resurrect._ He laughed and started the TARDIS, without the squeaking noise that most Timelords had to endure because they didn't know about the brakes they always left on.

* * *

><p>"All she needs now is rest," The Doctor said when Katie helped her girlfriend back onto the couch. Her eyelids had stopped flickering, her hands had stopped trembling and she wasn't muttering about past encounters of The Master or herself as if she was having a bad nightmare.<p>

"Everything that The Master is or was is now stored in this tiny Erlenmeyer flask," Sherlock said emotionless and placed it on the shelf above the chimney. He didn't seem as to be mentally in place, the death of Watson was still letting him freeze to the bones.

"It's not your fault, Sherlock," Mrs Hudson read his thoughts and touched his arm.

"It's my fault," The Doctor said. "I endanger everyone I meet and–"

"If I hadn't come with you it would never have happened," Sherlock cried.

"If I hadn't offered-"

"Shut up, both of you!" Theresa shouted and opened her eyes again. "God damn it, the two of you are like little children. Can't you at least pretend to be grown-ups? We're all responsible for what happened but we can't change it. We all miss John and we all need to figure out how to explain his wife!" She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

There was silence among them when suddenly someone on the door's threshold asked, "John who?" Their mouths dropped opened and Sherlock's reaction to seeing his best friend alive was the most indescribable. Sherlock stumbled forward and first slapped his best friend before hugging him deeply until he started coughing for air.

"How the *** did you survive?" The Doctor asked. **[reference: The Thick of It]**

"Well," Watson said Sherlock let go off him. "It was only my fifth regeneration..."

"You're...you're a Timelord?" Katie asked as puzzled as everyone else.

Watson nodded.

"You never said anything...you never..." Sherlock muttered.

"It was cute though seeing your little brain work so hard until you reached any conclusions," he admitted.

"Humans have funny little brains, don't they?" The Doctor smiled and Watson nodded with a grin.

"How dare you do something like that to me? I thought you were dead!" Sherlock shouted.

"Yeah, how could I dare pretend my death...I should have waited two years to return!"

"Why didn't you?"

"I couldn't have done that to Mary...or Mrs Hudson...or you lot," he pointed towards Katie, Theresa and The Doctor. "But you!" and turned towards Sherlock who started to grin as well.

"How did you get here?" The Doctor asked.

"The Rani must have teleported off when the building started collapsing. I used her TARDIS."

"Show me."

It took only five minutes to see that something was not right. "This is not The Rani's TARDIS. It's The Master's," The Doctor said.

"Can't it just be another interior?" Katie suggested. "Yours keeps changing from time to time as well."

"It's bigger on the inside," Mrs Hudson shrieked when she entered the red phone box which was the TARDIS' current cover.

"It's just a multidimensional shift," Sherlock patted her shoulder.

"So it's bigger on the inside?"

"Yes, Mrs Hudson. It's bigger on the inside," Watson confirmed.

"It's indeed The Master's TARDIS," Theresa said while tampering with the controls. "The TARDIS recognises me..."

"Which means that The Rani has not only escaped, but has escaped with her TARDIS," Katie concluded.

Before someone could ask the question where she might have gone, they heard a knock at the door.

"Who might that be?" Mrs Hudson whispered.

"Well, someone who noticed that the new, red phone box isn't supposed to be in front of Bakerstreet 221B," Watson whispered back.

"I'll go and ask," Theresa decided and went to open the door. "Kate!" she said surprised. "Haven't seen you since the invasion."

"Is the Doctor there?" the head of UNIT, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart asked.

"How did you find us?" Theresa wanted to know and opened the door to let her in.

"Well, let's say we have a TARDIS detector and when there're two at Sherlock Holmes' house we suspect something to go on. Oh, hey, Sherlock," she mentioned when passing by towards The Doctor. "We've got an emergency."

"What part in don't enter a TARDIS don't you understand?" The Doctor referred to the after-discussion of The Master's prevented Cyberman army plan.

"The Americans have made contact with an alien race in Area 51."

"Not for the first time. Three Ferengis had crashed there years ago..."

"This is important, Doctor. You need to help us! By now, over 500 aliens have arrived and left Area 51. We've been reported that a woman in the neighbourhood has been raped by an alien and we need you as an ambassador between the species..."

"Ambassador, President..." he muttered and accompanied Kate outside the TARDIS.

"Please, Doctor. We need you."

"When will your plane be landing in the US?"

"In twelve hours."

"I'll be there. Now would you please leave and catch your plane?"

"It won't fly without me. Do I have your word, Doctor?"

"Yes, yes, you have it. If I may now have a word with my friends." The Doctor returned into the TARDIS.

"You're going to help her, aren't you?" Katie asked.

"Yes, the actual question is who wants to come with me. I can hardly do this on my own."

"Oh, I'm out!" Mrs Hudson hurried and left the TARDIS as quickly as she could.

"Sherlock?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm sorry, Doctor. But I have enough mysteries to solve in London right now. And I already have a Timelord whose companion I will become. On Earth, and 2015 only. It's enough for me right now," Sherlock explained and Watson nodded. Sherlock left the TARDIS as well but The Doctor held Watson back.

"How did you escape? Every Timelord had been summoned back on the last day of the Time War. That's why no one escaped."

"I had been a member of the secret service. While everyone had been fighting, I was tasked to find those Timelords who used the chaos of war to escape."

"The Master."

"And The Rani. I was supposed to bring them back to Gallifrey. I had nearly found The Master when I received the message – Gallifrey was gone. Do you know how long I believed that it was destroyed? That you used The Moment? Oh yes, Doctor, I had been very well informed about everything."

"When did you find out?"

"When Sherlock hacked the UNIT files."

The Doctor nodded and wished the other Timelord good luck.

"We can't leave the TARDIS here. It would be noticed," Katie said.

"Oh, humans never notice anything. Not even an out-of-time police books appearing and disappearing all over the world."

"I'll hide it," Theresa offered. "After all, it's The Master's TARDIS and no one should have access to it."

The Doctor agreed. "Will you come with me?"

Katie and Theresa looked at each other. "I think I've had enough space travel for a while," Katie admitted. "But if you stop by in San Francisco, I would indeed travel with you – until there."

"I can bring you home," The Doctor offered. "Hide it somewhere your sister can't find it," he advised Theresa who nodded. As soon as her best friend and her girlfriend had left, she connected via telepathy to the TARDIS and left Bakerstreet.

**The idea of aliens having landed in Area 51 and impregnating a woman of the neighbourhood is actually an exercise of a Biology lecture I am attending. In this exercise, we had been supposed to calculate the probability of a particular alien having impregnated the woman - the problem was that all aliens had been clones xD I don't own anything and hope I am allowed to reference this idea which was introduced while talking about paternity and kinship testing which is quite an interesting topic. (And I usually prefer Chemistry over Biology - except for in the current semester.)**

**By the way, it wouldn't hurt you to leave a review about this chapter.**


	6. The End is the Beginning of the End

Chapter 5

Night had fallen again and everything was silent at Bakerstreet 221B. Mrs Hudson was lying awake when she heard a mysterious noise out on the street. She turned around and tried to doze off. But she kept having the strange feeling that someone was inside her house. She stood up, put on her bath robe and tip-toed to the floor. She heard the staircase creaking, hardly noticeable. But someone was definitely going upstairs.

She waited until she could be sure that no one was in the upper hallway, and she followed upstairs. She stepped over the two squeaking stairs and halted when she saw a silhouette in the living room of Sherlock's flat. She first thought it to be him, but the person there wasn't as tall. Mrs Hudson tip-toed closer so that she could have a view into the room. The person was standing in front of the chimney and grabbed the small bottle on the shelf. Mrs Hudson pressed her hands in her mouth so that she wouldn't make a sound. This person wanted to release The Master!

Now the person opened the bottle and silver fume was being released. "May Saxon's reign continue," the woman said and moon-lightening revealed that she was blonde and small. The silver smoke became snake-like, curled up and began rotating faster and faster until it was not silver anymore but golden. Golden flames started building up and it looked like a Timelord's regeneration.

Then, all of sudden, the golden sparks were gone and a woman had appeared out of it. She was tall, naked, and lost consciousness the moment she materialised. Mrs Hudson was already searching the mobile phone that Sherlock told her to keep in her bath robe for emergencies. This was indeed such an emergency. With trembling hands she dialled the number of Kate from UNIT and continued watching the scene in front of her.

The unknown, tall, dark-haired woman had gained consciousness again and stood up. She looked at the blonde one kneeing in front of her and touched her neck. "The Mark of the Rani," the Master-incarnation recognised the red dot on the blonde woman's neck. "What a coincidence that she chose you to resurrect me," she laughed and broke her ex-wife's neck.

"Not a coincidence, my dear Master," a female voice right behind Mrs Hudson said. The housekeeper did not dare to turn around. Kate was just answering the phone call. "Hello?" the voice blurred out of the mobile. Mrs Hudson dropped the mobile when she felt The Rani's hand on her neck. Then her vision was black and her body fell down next to the mobile phone which The Rani stepped on to break it.

"I prefer Mistress," Missy explained and walked towards her saviour, The Rani.

"And I prefer you dressed."

**This might be an explanation how The Master/ Missy was resurrected and returned in Series 8 of Doctor Who. This story also opens the possibility that The Rani and The Mistress are once again 'cooperating' and have planned more than just the Cybermen invasion as seen in Dark Water/ Death in Heaven.**

**I would like to know what you think of this story and the whole Gallifrey-Trilogy of mine. You can either give me a review or write me a private message.**


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